C-SPAN
The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-
SPAN) broadcasts proceedings of the U.S.
Congress, as well as other public events and
programs, on CABLE TELEVISION. It is funded
entirely by the U.S. cable television industry
and receives no government support.
C-SPAN was established by Brian P. Lamb as
a nonprofit venture in 1977.On March 19, 1979,
C-SPAN began live and unedited television
broadcasts of proceedings in the U.S. House of
Representatives. On June 2, 1986, C-SPAN II
broadcast, for the first time, proceedings on the
floor of the U.S. Senate.
C-SPAN also broadcasts congressional hear-
ings; call-in programs with elected officials, pol-
icy makers, and journalists; coverage of
Democratic and Republican conventions and
presidential campaigns; programs reviewing the
activities of the U.S. Supreme Court and devel-
opments in the law; coverage of such events as
the annual meetings of the National Governors
Association and the U.S. Conference of Mayors;
speeches at the National Press Club; proceedings
of foreign legislatures such as Canada’s House of
Commons and the United Kingdom’s House of
Commons; and many other public-affairs pro-
grams.
As part of its mission, C-SPAN seeks to pro-
vide direct access to proceedings of government
in the United States, free of the editing, com-
mentary, and analysis that are typical in most
other media. In 1989, ten years after C-SPAN’s
first broadcast, the network was available in 40
million homes. On this tenth anniversary, Con-
gress issued a resolution honoring the cable tel-
evision industry for funding the public affairs
channel and for ‘the invaluable contribution it
has made and continues to make toward
informing and educating the citizenry of this
Nation and thereby enhancing the quality of its
government of, by and for the people” (S. Con.
Res. 22, 101st Cong., 1st Sess., 135 Cong. Rec.
S2732-02 [1989]).
C-SPAN has expanded its programming
since the mid-1990s. Like many other cable tele-
vision networks, it has added such sister stations
as C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3, both of which are
available to millions of cable subscribers.
C-SPAN has also expanded to radio and has
added content developed for INTERNET users
with broadband access. Regular programming
on the C-SPAN stations includes American Writ-
ers, American Presidents, and Book TV.Accord-
ing to a survey conducted by the network in
December 2000, about 28.5 million people
watch C-SPAN’s programming each week.More
than 90 percent of those who watch the network
are registered voters. More than half are in the
18- to 49-year-old demographic. About 48 per-
cent of the viewers are women.
C-SPAN is increasingly used in school class-
rooms as a teaching tool. The network offers a program called C-SPAN in the Classroom, which included free membership and resources to educators who use the network’s resources in the classroom. For classrooms that do not have cable access, C-SPAN offers videotapes and web access so students can view the content. The network also offers a Teacher Fellowship Program through the C-SPAN Education Foundation to honor educators who have demonstrated creative use of the programming in the classroom.
FURTHER READINGS
Frantzich, Stephen E., and John Sullivan. 1996. The C-SPAN
Revolution. Norman, Okla.: Univ. of Oklahoma Press.
CROSS-REFERENCES
Broadcasting.
